


the glittering shore by the digital sea

by Vhaiada



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Blood, Guro, M/M, Sexualized Gore, canon mentions of character death, chapter 5 and 6 spoilers, minor appearances by other characters - Freeform, unreality, wound fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-15 19:31:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vhaiada/pseuds/Vhaiada
Summary: *FULL GAME SPOILERS FOR SDR2 ESPECIALLY CHAPTERS 5 AND 6!!*'The human body is incredible,' Hinata thought, as he leaned down to kiss Komaeda's chest above where his heart lived, briefly overcome with some kind of bizarre sentimentality. He smiled to himself, imagining how this would have gone if any of the others had tried to come with him. Would he still be pretending for everyone's sake? Could he stand to see them all still scorning Komaeda, who had been right all this time?





	the glittering shore by the digital sea

**Author's Note:**

> i guess this is best described as a chapter 6 AU where naegi never showed up? because he never would have let this happen. it's been a long time since i played chapter 6 and i kept meaning to brush up on the details before i posted this but it's been two years since i started writing it and i might as well just post it while it's still halloween. pls mind the tags

Hinata dreamed about Komaeda's death many times before it happened.

_Horrible_, he would think upon waking each time, sitting up slowly, wiping sweat from his throat with an open palm. The scenario was always different, and he could never remember the specifics, only that it left him closer to anger than grief. He would blink away the memories of bright blood and white eyes. 

He would turn to see Komaeda sleeping beside him, watching until he could detect the faint rise and fall of the other boy's chest in the dark. Sometimes Hinata would wake him, a hand slipped under his shirt, fingers tracing hard lines across his ribs, laced with the hope that Komaeda wouldn't _say_ anything, that he'd make good on his promises of letting Hinata do "_anything"_ to him, without any smug commentary about his self-control.

Komaeda would roll over and smile sleepily and slip down between Hinata's legs, saliva soaking into the fabric of Hinata's underwear where his warm tongue flicked out against Hinata's cock. He would let the visuals from his dreams melt away, lost in Komaeda's movement and breathing, his proof of life.

When Hinata awoke from the worst of these dreams, sometimes he would startle Komaeda in his sleep, pulling him so close and tight that the other boy couldn't move, usually earning a concerned "Hinata-kun?" Even surprised, Komaeda knew to keep his voice down, his unspoken invitation to stay in this bed constantly teetering on the promise that no one else could hear them together. Hinata wouldn't respond except to tuck his face against Komaeda's throat, fingertips over his heart, releasing him only when the sun was about to rise, and Komaeda would slip silently out into the hazy blue morning. 

They would meet again at breakfast, careful not to look at each other too much or too little. Komaeda would make conversation while Hinata wondered what fresh horror would occupy his thoughts by the time this new day was over, by the time Komaeda returned again to his room, seeking strained company. 

Komaeda was so much trouble. He made everything so difficult. 

And when Hinata found himself kneeling on concrete, his trembling hands gently prying open Komaeda's cooling, rigid fingers, pressing against the wet spattering of cuts on his thighs, he wondered if Komaeda had bad dreams, too.

.

At first, he didn't hear Owari askin' if he was okay, or Souda nervously repeating her. He did hear Sonia, shaking voice still regal and firm enough to hack through his dissociation, asking if it _was 'true'_.

If what was true? She didn't seem to be talking to Hinata. His gaze slowly refocused back on the present.

"Look at this one! About to have a full-blown meltdown. That's fucking hilarious," The giant girl and her giant cel phone cooed, her shrill non-answer reverberating through the bizarre trial hall. She was looking at him-- everyone was, except Sonia, who was looking at _her_. Hinata felt heavy with all the eyes on him, and thought that it wasn't fair, after he'd been so careful. After they'd both been so careful. He wondered if he'd made a scene just now. 

"Is it true that you've restored simply one person back to life?" Sonia demanded, firmer this time but still wavering, sparing Hinata's dignity by directing everyone's attention and concerned gazes back to the main event, Enoshima Junko.

"Absolutely true! It'll be him, that sad sack, just the way you remember him. Filled with hope!" She sneered that part, "It's not a 'real life' solution, but you guys don't seem all that interested in leaving your stupid dead friends behind, so who needs to graduate anyway?" Enoshima leaned forward, pressing against the screen inside of her phone, her tone sarcastic but the words so absurd the effect was lost. "I just shared a little bit of extra data with his brain, flipped some 1's and 0's, so now his consciousness knows it's a Game, and can't _help_ but come back. It's like trying to stay asleep once you realize you're dreaming," she puckered her lips and ended a high, mockingly childish voice, "Everyone knows you can't die in a _game_."

She laughed for several inappropriately long seconds, then shifted abruptly, a heavy air forming over her as she nearly broke into tears.

"But, obviously just describing a cheesy return-to-life scenario is so despairingly boring. Don't comment on that." She dabbed at her eyes, careful to avoid smearing her mascara, real tears glistening on her fingertips. "You really have to see for yourselves! And while you rejoice, you get to decide on another person to bring back! It's actually _not_ optional! We'll have a vote, since you guys are used to making life-or-death decisions by slapping a button when you're told to!" She turned away from them dramatically, her back to the screen as she sighed. "I'll wait."

"If you could do something like that, we should have been able to vote in the first place," Kuzuryuu growled, knuckles turning white at his sides. "And after all that, you couldn't even bring him here? You trying to buy time or something?"

"I'll go find Komaeda," Hinata cut in, forcing a smile that was barely a step up from pushing the corners of his mouth up with his fingers, "He's probably going to be pissed that his plan failed, so I'll bring him back here and explain things to him. Or," Hinata choked out a laugh, "...if it's a trap, at least only one of us fell for it." 

"No fuckin' way!" Kuzuryuu slapped his podium. "That asshole tried to kill us all, and if he really did get brought back, he's probably waiting for you with that spear! Why else would this despair-loving bitch bring _him_ back to life first?"

_Why else_, Hinata thought abstractly, although he was pretty sure he wouldn't get that lucky. If everything he'd heard up till now about himself was true, the thought of a spear through his stomach seemed too good for him.

"Then we don't want to leave him alone, right?" Hinata was already on his way to the elevator. It felt weird leaving in the middle of a class trial, as though that was the most absurd thing he was experiencing at the moment. "If he's alive, I'll take care of him," Hinata promised vaguely over his shoulder, trying to sound ominous. "This is the only way to get the others back. You guys should stay and discuss who's next."

He stepped into the elevator amidst protest from his classmates, but no one actually made a move to stop him. The air was heavy, pressing their weary feet to the ground. Sonia's hands were clasped in front her chest, watching him with a pleading concern. Enoshima's long, lacquered nails flicked up at down at him, a wide smile splitting her face as the doors started to close. 

"He's right where you left him!" She called cheerily.

.

Hinata spent roughly the entire jog to the Fifth Island trying to figure out what exactly one was supposed to say to someone who had been magically--or digitally-- returned to life. Someone who had tried to kill him. Someone who had _failed_ at that. Hinata was likely the last person he'd want to see, but it's not like either of them had much choice. At the very least, he wanted to believe that Komaeda would know what to do in this situation, even if he didn't feel like sharing. Maybe they could even find some common ground in their mutual disgust. 

_Oh, you hate me? What a coincidence, I hate me too._

The late morning island sun blazed down on him as he tried to convince himself it wasn't hot. His brain simply thought it was _supposed_ to be, receiving false signals for his false body. That wasn't the same as something actually being hot. Logically, he knew that, as sweat poured down his back, and the scent of ocean salt sat heavy in his nose. 

It was annoying that he was still experiencing this world the way one was supposed to experience the world, as it resembled 'the world' less and less the further away he got from the school. Simmering flashes of bright, sky-splitting green lines running pixel-perfect parallel along the horizon blinked in and out of existence with each step he took. They were making him dizzy, they were making him want to laugh, and the more he stared at them, the more he couldn't remember if they'd always been there or not. The entire sky flickered completely black as he thought about it, but only for a moment. 

He started to hear the voices of ghosts, sharp and too high up behind him. Koizumi, telling him he was being stupid. Nidai, complimenting his jogging form as he trotted across the bridge. Their words were clipped in odd places. Hinata didn't dare turn around, kept his eyes on the ground, which seemed at times to blur beneath his feet. He expected one of the voices to be Komaeda's, and kept expecting it until he stood outside of the rusted warehouse door and all the ghosts went silent.

Hinata promised himself he wouldn't panic if there was no one inside. He promised himself he wouldn't hope for anything. 

If any of this was even remotely true, it'd make sense that Komaeda wouldn't stick around the warehouse. Maybe he was wandering nearby--confused, alone, angry. Maybe he was watching the palm trees blink in and out of existence, laughing.

The door swung open freely at the lightest touch, the scent of burnt fabric and wet cardboard lingering at the entrance._ So fucking realistic._ The air felt thick and dark, but his vision adjusted quickly. 

Hinata's first despair was that Enoshima Junko had lied to him. 

In the back of the cavernous space, Komaeda's body lay there, still illuminated under the high bare bulb, blood glistening bright in a pool around him. There was _more_ of it than Hinata remembered, but he was otherwise exactly as they'd left him.

Realizing he'd already broken his promise to himself about not hoping for anything, he felt his heart plummet into his stomach, the anger and disappointment and realization that he was probably being laughed at right now all welled up in his chest. He felt like he'd earned the scream that was building in his lungs, trembling fist raised to strike the door behind him, but then he heard something. 

Hinata's second despair was that Enoshima Junko had _not_ lied to him.

A pitiful, muffled whimpering came from the direction of Komaeda's body, spurring Hinata into a sprint that spanned most of the vast warehouse in a matter of seconds. He made it just in time to see that the spear still lodged in Komaeda's stomach was wobbling minutely.

"Komaeda...!" 

Komaeda's eyes, glazed and bloodshot, flicked to meet his, the duct tape still over his mouth doing little to mask his panicked expression.

His arm and legs were still stretched out, tied tight to the pillars, with Gungnir towering over him and pinning him to the cement like a butterfly on display. His eyes rolled slowly back to the spear as he tried to lift his arm that was not tied down. The shaft wobbled more with the motion.

"Komaeda, wait--"

A soft clink of metal sounded through the warehouse as the knife embedded in his hand hit the side of the spear. His fingers left bloody trails behind on the dull metal, weakly grasping at the shaft but unable to get hold of it. His arm fell heavily back to the ground, flinging several drops of blood toward Hinata's shoes.

Hinata approached him, stomach twisting as the details came crisply into view, his heart sinking further still. Komaeda had clearly been struggling for some time, he couldn't tell for how long-- his own careful knots and strategic wounds held him firmly in place while he continued to bleed freshly into the concrete with each attempt at movement.

Hinata wondered if his heart was still beating, if he still drew breath. It was a horrific thought.

He took another step, and Komaeda's wide eyes finally shut tight as he threw all his energy into lurching to the side. The spear lost its balance and swung towards the ground. Hinata cried out and reached for it, nearly tripping over Komaeda when it slipped out of his grasp. The metallic clang of spear striking concrete didn't cover the sound of Komaeda screaming through his sealed mouth as the tip of Gungnir ripped out of him and clattered to the side.

Hinata was on top of him in an instant, his whole hand pressing against the huge wound, trying to stem the bleeding without going _inside._

Komaeda writhed under his hand, bucking against the pressure as an impossible amount of blood pumped out of him, unhindered.

Hinata's vision went dark. Komaeda's skin was usually a bit cool to the touch, but inside he was molten. Hinata didn't know what he was touching, what part of Komaeda his fingers sank into, only that he wasn't really helping and that it probably didn't matter. All he could see and smell and feel was evidence of Komaeda's punishment, a sentence he'd tried to carry out on all of them. 

He realized all at once how cruel it actually was that he was here now, pitying Komaeda for his pointless suffering. His ears were ringing. 

This wasn't Kamukura Izuru's fault. This was _Hinata's Hajime's_ fault. It seemed more and more plausible the longer he thought about Enoshima's claims-- how easy it must have been for him to step over that line. Hinata's third despair sank in slowly, winding through the crevices of what remained of his self image, filling in all the cracks, until there was no space left for questions.

_It should have been me here, right? That's what you wanted._

Komaeda jerked under him again, and in that moment Hinata interpreted it as an attempt at laughter. His thoughts went silent. 

"Komaeda," Hinata said steadily, head down, everything around them fading to black as his gaze traced the blood-soaked collar of a once-white t-shirt, "Do you know where you are?" 

Komaeda stilled at being spoken to and nodded, wincing with the motion. 

Hinata lifted his head enough to look him in the eyes. Komaeda's panic had been replaced with a dull, strained agony. He wondered what it must have felt like to die, and if Komaeda was still feeling it. He really wanted to know.

"Do you remember why you're here?"

Komaeda hesitated, but nodded again, barely allowing himself the wince this time.

Hinata tipped his head. 

"Do you know why you're alive right now?"ⁿ

Torn stomach muscles contracted against Hinata's fingers. Komaeda tried to speak from behind the tape, but only blood dribbled out around the edges. Hinata's heart ached as he finally reached for the edge and pulled-- the adhesive had grown slick enough that it peeled up with little effort. Komaeda wheezed again, earning him only more blood and a rasping cough. A new pain bloomed through his expression. 

_The poison, _Hinata thought. Komaeda blinked slowly, his mouth still moving as he experimented with different amounts of effort, but failed to form words. He shuddered with each attempt, until Hinata couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's not real, you know," He said quickly, as if that was comforting, "It's all in your head. That pain," His fingers made a little circle motion against Komaeda's mortal wound, granting them both a sickly, wet stirring sound. "_This_ pain."

Komaeda shut his eyes tightly, jaw clenching. Hinata could hear him trying to breathe like a living person might, a horrible rattle.

"You must be pretty upset to see me here," Hinata began the imaginary conversation he'd anxiously cooked up before arriving. Komaeda's eyebrows knit together. Hinata wondered if Komaeda was actually afraid of him, or if he just expected to see fear there. 

He pressed against Komaeda's stomach, making him wince again. He knew it was unfair to expect him to instantly detach from this reality when Hinata certainly hadn't been able to--Komaeda was different, though, he reasoned, and if anyone should be able to do this, Hinata thought it would be him. Komaeda was an ultimate, after all, and it was actually making Hinata a little angry that he got to continue making himself suffer like this, while Hinata, still perfectly intact _despite everything_, had to watch.

"I guess you were hoping I'd died," Hinata continued, leaning toward him a little as his hand started to sink in, "I'm happy to see you, though."

Hinata did notice that he wasn't nauseous anymore-- that feeling had been replaced by a prickly curiosity that stung the back of his throat and eyes, anxiety transforming seamlessly into a restless sort of hunger. There was something intriguing about having this body, the only form of Komaeda he'd ever known, so _open_. So lacking in secrecy. So completely free of mortal consequence, be it illness or injury. Some fear Hinata didn't realize he'd been shouldering eased from him, and his fingers twitched as they submerged deeper.

Komaeda's eyes went wide for a moment then closed again, shallow breaths growing deeper and more even as he seemed to concentrate, trying to will away the sensation. Hinata could almost see the gears turning in the other boy's head as he tried to convince himself.

Hinata wondered how detailed this simulation really needed to be... wasn't it a waste to render all these unseen internal organs? Maybe they only loaded after Komaeda was opened up. He wanted to laugh at himself-- it's not like _he_ knew much about video games.

"I couldn't say it to them, but I was glad it was you. I wanted it more than anything. Isn't that selfish? You can tell me it was selfish." Hinata _really_ wanted to hear him say it." "You can tell me how disgusting I am."

Komaeda finally managed to cry out, opening his eyes again to find Hinata wrist-deep in his ribcage. 

"This is what you were afraid of, right?" Hinata asked slowly, tearing Komeda's shirt more as his arm sank in further. He wasn't sure what he was looking for in here. Komaeda's heart, maybe? (_Corny_, he knew it was corny.) "Seeing me, seeing yourself...as a hope that has given in to despair?"

Ah, he found it. He was up to his elbow now.

"We've both apparently done some pretty awful things at this point, I guess, though the main difference was our motives." 

Komaeda thrashed helplessly, eyes rolling back into his head, though he couldn't seem to lose consciousness.

It was actually beating in his hand. Hinata kind of felt like crying. Komaeda's whimpering was more urgent now, his fried throat contracting around pained sounds that still weren't words.

"Well, and you failed, where I succeeded. You only killed one person, if that counts. And I'm only guessing, anyway-- I don't remember any of it on my end, but at least we're both on the same page. No more secrets, right?"

_The human body is incredible_. Hinata leaned down to kiss Komaeda's chest above where his heart lived, briefly overcome with some kind of bizarre sentimentality. He smiled to himself, imagining how this would have gone if any of the others had tried to come with him. Would he still be pretending for everyone's sake? Could he stand to see them all still scorning Komaeda, who had been _right_ all this time?

Komaeda's body wound tighter and tighter under him, wrist and ankles pulling hard at his self inflicted restraints as he struggled-- then Hinata relinquished his heart and felt him gasp. "That's better, isn't it?" Hinata smiled, a warmth gripping at his own heart as he looked at him. Komaeda's tense insides relaxed as his body collapsed back to the floor. "Even though you're still hurting... now you're hurting less. That's what you've been talking about all this time, right?" He pulled his arm out partway, the air cool against his wet skin. "'The greater the despair, the greater the hope that follows,' you said. But weren't you actually just looking for 'relief'? The hope you were looking for only seems like hope because you've been hurting so much, for so long." He fanned his fingers out fully just to see it what it felt like. Komaeda hissed through his teeth. "Anything even _slightly_ better will look like a great hope to someone like you, won't it?"

Hinata crooked his wrist, fingertips skipping along the inside of his narrow rib cage. Komaeda had gone silent, gaze focused intently on what he could see of Hinata's arm through the glaze of tears that had welled up.

"Not everyone was in despair for as long as you, so it's not possible for them to understand. I didn't either, but I think I'm starting to get it." Komaeda looked back at Hinata as the tears finally spilled and his bloodied cheeks streaked, damp and glistening. He shook his head.

He was so beautiful.

"Does that make you happy, Komaeda? That we can finally reach an understanding?"

Komaeda's eyes softened and he opened his mouth to speak again, but instead his dry lower lip split, opening a fresh, tiny wound. Hinata studied the comically insignificant injury that presented a fresh, bright slash of blood amidst the dried splatter on his face, before his arm re-entered and the pitiful, choked sobs returned in full force.

"You really have to let go of this... I don't like seeing you this way." Hinata rooted around lower this time, properly investigating the long, warm squeeze of organs below his wound.

Komaeda's hips shifted at Hinata's insistent probing, his unbound hand and the knife within it scraping uselessly across the cement, and he emitted the closest thing to a coherent thought Hinata had heard yet.

"Hi-hi..na..ta--"

Hinata smiled, as his fingers dug lower and his mind wandered. He shouldn't have been so shocked to learn what a terrible person he actually was in the 'real' world, as he found himself wondering if it would be possible to get Komaeda off from the inside. It was a fleeting thought, but--

"All these sensations are false," Hinata said abruptly, voice flat, hoping Komaeda couldn't tell from his tone that his mind had been elsewhere. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? "Why don't you think about something else, since it doesn't seem like your consciousness is going to let you die again any time soon?"

Komaeda tried vaguely to sit up-- He didn't make any progress, but Hinata could feel his attempt, muscles tightening around his forearm.

"You're not even really tied down. These ropes aren't real either. They're just rules made up by someone else, rules we've been following because we didn't know we could break them." Hinata pressed as low as he could, knuckles kneading somewhere in Komaeda's abdomen. "Just get up already," irritation had seeped into his voice and he instantly regretted it. Komaeda didn't deserve his ire right now, when he was trying so hard.

"Nnn....ugh," Komaeda let out a frustrated groan, head tipping back so hard into the concrete that it lifted his shoulders off the ground. 

"It's almost like you're enjoying this," Hinata felt Komaeda's thigh jerk at the accusation, "And that's fine, isn't it?... We've both enjoyed plenty of other false sensations together in this simulation. How is this really any different? Why should someone else get to decide that _this_ still feels like pain?"

Hinata's arm slid out of Komaeda's stomach until his slick fingertips nearly emerged, before pressing back inside the torn flesh slowly. Komaeda's whimpering had taken on an airier quality that Hinata recognized instantly. Hinata leaned in close to bite at his collarbone, hard enough to leave a mark visible even through the spatter. Having investigated Komaeda's body so thoroughly earlier, he couldn't help but think of it as 'incriminating evidence.' What a joke. 

Hinata's hand pressed deep and low, rhythmically stroking Komaeda from the inside with enough force that his whole body rocked with the motion. The familiar rhythm conjured memories of the last time Hinata's fingers had been inside Komaeda, one sunny morning, a scant few hours after the execution of one of their classmates. _We deserve each other, don't we?_

Relaxing under him, Komaeda seemed on the verge of breaking through some kind of barrier. Hinata couldn't hide the relief he felt, nipping at Komaeda's throat and whispering encouraging words. They were so close-- Komaeda's ragged gasping was growing more confident, as if he now believed that breathing was indeed something he could accomplish.

Hinata kissed him, imagining he could taste the poison in his lungs. "I knew you could do this," he was the one who sounded breathless now, he was starting to lose himself, "You don't deserve to be in pain."

Komaeda froze at those words, trembling as his eyes darted around the warehouse, as though he was seeing all this for the first time. Hinata could see instantly in Komaeda's darkening eyes that he had made a mistake.

Hinata's rough exploration came to an abrupt halt. 

He pulled his arm out suddenly, completely, and Komaeda sobbed again, a full body shudder, while he tried and failed to curl up into a ball before lying back still and flat, gasping for air.

Hinata stood up over him, making a show of futilely dusting off his pants which were drenched completely dark, and reached for the fallen Gungnir. 

He saw Komaeda's eyes following it with a mix of dread and curiosity as he lifted it into the light. It was heavy and sharp, and if it had suited Komaeda's purpose, Hinata hoped it would now suit his.

"I'm sorry... I was still asking too much of you without having any idea where you're coming from. I gotta stop doing that." Hinata gathered the long cord up, pulling it through his fingers until the boxy little weight at the end dragged over Komaeda's chest and then up, up, into Hinata's hand. "From here on, I'll do my best to understand. We'll do everything together, okay?"

Komaeda shivered, trying to speak again, but Hinata was focused above him. How did it go again? Over the beam, right?

He tossed the weight, praying it would make it on the first try, or else this would be kind of embarrassing.

It sailed over the top of the beam, right past the original blood stain, and swung down into Hinata's waiting grasp. He wondered if it was luck--either way, he was thankful.

"Mnn...nn..." Komaeda's shook his head as he tried to prop himself up.

"Yeah?" Hinata asked, almost patronizing, as he hoisted the spear up above them both. Holding the weight tightly, Hinata sank to his knees, straddling Komaeda's wounded thighs, and slowly lowered himself until, chest to chest, he perfectly eclipsed the other boy's body. Warmth soaked into Hinata's shirt as he settled on top of him and hooked an arm around the back of Komaeda's head.

"I gotta admit, I'm a little nervous even now," Hinata buried his face against Komaeda's throat as he spoke, "So I can only imagine how you must have felt."

He heard Komaeda inhale sharply, and one by one Hinata's fingers relinquished their grip on the weighted cord, until gravity ripped it the rest of the way from his grasp.

It took way too long to reach him. 

Hinata heard it before he felt it-- the splintering of his own spine-- and he thought, briefly, that the lack of sensation meant he'd already effortlessly accomplished his transcendence. But his brain, digital as it was, still received the unfortunate signal a few long moments later. He clamped a hand over his mouth and screamed into it, shuddering through every broken bone and torn muscle and pierced organ, until the tip of the spear came to a halt, once again buried in Komaeda's stomach below him, and everything turned white.

_It's...a game, though._

His forehead had hit the concrete over Komaeda's shoulder quite hard. Hinata didn't feel like he could lift his head, and being able to feel his head at all felt wrong, but he couldn't stop thinking about how annoying the hard, rough surface was, digging into his skin. Each grain of dirt grinding into each pore. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it with such clarity that sight felt unnecessary.

He thought about how much more pleasant it would have been to die on the beach, at least, the digital waves crashing at his feet, the soft sand welcoming his shape as he bled out into it.

He felt Komaeda take another breath.

He tried it himself.

As a painful, ice cold rush of air entered his lungs, the concrete melted under his skull all at once, leaving him with the sensation of falling, but not of landing. He jerked reflexively, aching with the tear of the spear still inside him, and suddenly his fingers closed around sand. 

Hinata managed to sit up on his knees, pulling a dazed Komaeda up with him. Sight pulsed back into his eyes, sudden and bright, and he could see a black shore surrounding them that stretched on endlessly, a black ocean that crashed against it, and a hazy white nothing that existed where a sky should have been. It was white without being bright, emitting dull, flat light that seemed to have no source.

He brushed away the grains of sand from his palm, and brushed away the thought that if he looked too closely at them he might see a fragment of something or someone he recognized.

Komaeda stared down at the spear shaft that still jutted between them, linking them like a bridge from one gruesome island to the next, his eyebrows upturned. He tried to laugh.

Hinata felt so warm just looking at him.

He wanted nothing more in that moment than for Komaeda to know, like Hinata now knew, that there was no need to worry about anything anymore.

Their future, their present, their past, their hope and their despair, all lived as one on this sparkling shore, with sand begging to be shaped and sculpted into anything they could possibly imagine. The concept of _infinite_ had never felt so clear to him.

Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into an embrace, the sickly resistance of what remained of Komaeda's stomach protesting for only a moment as Gungnir slid further into him until its tip emerged out the other side.

And then the spear was gone. Komaeda slumped into Hinata's arms, gasping for breaths that now came easily and clutching at his clean, white shirt. 

He shook and huddled against Hinata until his breathing settled, and when he finally pulled away and glanced up, he laughed in surprise. With a smile, he sat back, his eyes welling up and voice clear,

"Hinata-kun, your hair... it matches the sky."

**Author's Note:**

> hinata "there is no spoon" hajime


End file.
